TURNED INTO ART: Anne Smith created this artwork titled, Lest We Forget 2018, based off a photograph by Captain Frank Hurley. It was made with metallic photographic paper mounted behind 6mm ultra clear toughened safety glass with polished edges.Contributed

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World War One photos turned into artwork at Gallery

2nd Aug 2018 5:00 AM
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HISTORIC war photographs have been turned into pieces of art as part of a new exhibition at the Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery.

The exhibition, curated by USQ academics Dr Martin Kerby and Associate Professor Janet McDonald, re-imagines photographs by official World War One photographer Captain Frank Hurley.

Dr Kerby, a senior lecturer in USQ's School of Teacher Education and Early Childhood, said the exhibition had provided eight contemporary artists with the opportunity to re-imagine WWI through a contemporary lens.

He said Hurley's photographs of the war-torn landscape of the Western Front and the Middle East were hauntingly beautiful and iconic.

"The photographs provide an appropriate starting point for a re-imagining by the artists in this exhibition because they transcend the context in which they were created," Dr Kerby said.

Garry Dolan created this work titled Villers-Bretonneux 2015.USQ Photography

Fellow curator Associate Professor Janet McDonald from the USQ School of Arts and Communication said without the ubiquitous use of technology that we were accustomed to, photographs such as Hurley's took on even greater significance.

"Each of the artworks in this exhibition seek to connect with a specific Hurley image and re-imagine it through a personal aesthetic. In this way, the artists not only challenge the loss of memories, but also explore the process of remembering," she said.